Anybody tried it ? did it work ? any thoughts / suggestions ?

I did a 6:1 variation of the diet for 8 weeks before my wedding. I wasn’t overweight to begin with (59kg, BMI 22), but had a bit of extra padding that I needed gone. I lost 3kg in that time and a fair bit of that was definitely fat. The fasting day each week (nicknamed Hangry Tuesday by my fiancé…) was pretty horrible, but it was doable when I rationalised that it was only one day a week. I continued commuting by bike throughout and did occasionally bonk on the way home. A by-product of the weight loss is that my power:weight improved and I got a very respectable result at the Kielder 100 in September!

Of course, I’m back to baseline now! It does seem to have to be a lifestyle choice if you want to keep the weight off long term.

It’ll work. All decent diets do is make you focus on what and how you are eating so one is as good as the rest, it’s just a question of which you find easiest to follow.

i followed a slightly different intermittent fasting protocol, leangains.

basically cutting my calories and only eating during an 8hr window every day. it could easier be described as ‘missing out breakfast’ 😀 altho i did eat a bit less on the 2 meals per day i had too. first meal around 12.30 dinnertime, usual teatime meal, then a bit of a snack around half 8 and that did me.
counted calories using myfitnesspal helped a great deal, lost 2 and a half stone over 9 months whilst still weightlifting to preserve as much muscle as poss.

My wife has and has lost a couple of stone. She struggled at first but it soon became normal for her. She ‘fasts’ on Tuesdays and Thursdays so weekends feel normal, and it’s easier to have the diet days at work as there are less temptations.

She’s dropped down to 6:1 now just to maintain her weight loss. She does exercise too.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fast-dietdidnt-believe-it-but-its-working-for-me

yep, currently doing 6:1 just to keep in the habit and maintaining the loss

Yep, it works. 600 cal days not too bad. I did normal evening meal to mark the start point, then no snacking that night. Plain porridge(homecooked or Quaker OatSoSimple Original with a bit of semi skimmed milk), couple of apples for lunch, baby plum tomatoes as emergency snacks, sugar free gum as distraction, then whatever normal family evening meal we were having, but without the carbs. No pudding. Back to normal after that.

Yup. started the day after the Micheal Mosley Horizon documentary Aug 2012 and never looked back.
I didn’t have any excess weight but I don’t have the best of diets (I like sugar…a lot) So by doing this it evens things out, became a way of life.

Yes, though mainly because wife was doing it and I wanted (was told) to show moral support. Was 94kg, now 80, not all down to the diet but it certainly helped. To me its common sense dieting compared to some of the shit out there- you’re simply reducing the calories going in. I preferred it to just “eating sensibly” as 5 days a week I could just eat normally, rather than having to cut out the good stuff all the time.

No pudding

what did you do that was so bad ???? 😀

booze, takeaways and all the unhealthy sh1t that sits on desks in offices are the worst thing, if you can get a handle on that then you should be ok, I know that I’d just be unbearably hangry if I tried.

Reducing the carb intake helps but just completely ommiting a food group isn’t a good idea, low GI carbs aren’t a bad choice

but I do think it makes more sense than most ‘diets’

I’m doing it at the moment. Today is actually a fast day. I’ve been going for four weeks I think and have lost a stone so far. I really wasn’t sure I’d be able to cope on the low-cal days but it’s actually not been that bad really and it is teaching me that feeling hungry is not the end of the world and that I can cope fine.

I’m tending to have a banana for breakfast, soup and chicken for lunch and a couple of poached eggs for tea which is getting me in under 700 cals for the day. I also drink a fair bit of water.

I’ve done it a couple of times for a couple of months. It worked for me, but the fasting usually gives me a migraine and I get hungry in the middle of the night. I really want to do it again but I need to get a better migraine treatment sorted first, if such a thing is possible!

Have done it, don’t really need to when exercising properly as I drop weight quite easily between holiday periods. Certainly worked for us though.

Going properly hungry occasionally is an interesting experience, I’m glad I have tried it. The science behind it also suggests that it’s not just calorie restriction but the fasting has other effects. (Not sure I really believe that though.) I would not be prepared to go on a conventional diet – I enjoy pigging out on “bad” food far too much to go without for any length of time.

Vickypea, have you tried Sumatriptan ?

Whats wrong with just eating the same food as you normally do but less of it ? Im doing just that and have dropped 20lb in 7 weeks easily

That’s what it is Edrik you just eat a bit more less twice a week rather then a little bit every day.

Yes it began working very well. Mostly (I suspect) because it broke my sleepwalking to carbocide by forcing me to keep a diary (MyFitnessPal worked here for me). As soon as I slacked off on MFP I started piling on again.

All the best. Keep the diary. Or keep the weight!

Whats wrong with just eating the same food as you normally do but less of it ? Im doing just that and have dropped 20lb in 7 weeks easily

Because I enjoy my food and don’t really want to have to think about eating less of what I like 7 days a week. 5:2 means 5 days a week I can enjoy what I like, as much as I want.

This ^

Couple of things which I use on fasting days that help,
High 5 zero with caffeine. only one Kcal and the caffiene helps.
Omega 3 fish oil capsules in the morning.

but I do think it makes more sense than most ‘diets’

it’s just structure for the weak willed.
i only had 4kg to lose (very slim but a busy work period and rubbish food on shoots put a 2.2 conti vert pro round my middle over 3 weeks) dealt with by not eating everything on show when in a film studio so just a bowl of porridge not the full english and ignoring the 3:30 sandwich trolly. when working at home i just have a small lunch as i’m sat at computer not on my feet burning energy.

why not just drop the fast day and eat sensibly 7 days a week???

I’ve been doing it for the last 6 weeks I think. Has become normal now (it takes 4 weeks to form a habit?)

I do Mondays & Wednesdays. If I’m not riding the bike, I have an espresso for breakfast and maybe a berocca, if riding I’ll have a high5 Zero with the caffeine. Then I’ll have a soup & a banana for lunch about 12 and a soup for dinner about 7:30.

I find it reduces the amount I snack on non-fast days too.

Seems to be doing me good, but I don’t own any scales so I won’t be able to tell you how much weight I’ve lost.

I suspect I will swap to 6:1 during the party season…

why not just drop the fast day and eat sensibly 7 days a week???

There are medical benefits to fasting (aside from weight loss).

You’re supposed to eat “sensibly” for the rest of the week – it’s not an excuse to binge on the “5”.

^what they said. But you can easily get away with some binges! Two fasting days a week is a deficit of about 3000cal compared to normal eating so as long as you aren’t force-feeding yourself with doughnuts on all the other 5 days you are pretty likely to lose weight while basically eating normally and not thinking about a diet 5 days a week. Plus the (possible) fasting benefits. I’m no fan of diet fads but it really has worked for us.

Hi TheWrongTrousers – I do use sumatriptan and it’s good but I get quite frequent migraines, not only when fasting, so potentially getting 8 extra migraine days a month is not good, and the Dr only lets me have about 3 sumatriptan tablets per month!

There are medical benefits to fasting (aside from weight loss).

You aren’t fasting though; you’re still eating two or three small meals a day.

I think I’ll continue with the 7:0 diet, it seems to work OK with sensible eating (at least mainly sensible 8) )

Whats wrong with just eating the same food as you normally do but less of it ? Im doing just that and have dropped 20lb in 7 weeks easily

If its so easy, how did you get more than 20lb overweight in the first place?

If its so easy, how did you get more than 20lb overweight in the first place?

At the same food but MORE of it perhaps?

I’m going to give this a go in the New Year, unusual to get anything on here that everyone that tries it agrees with!

If its so easy, how did you get more than 20lb overweight in the first place?

stopped cycling over winter (busy) and in January sat in studio that was ‘fully catered’ so had breakfast at home, breakfast when i got there, big lunch (inc crumble and custard) then the tea/sandwich trolly at 3:30 and then home to my normal big evening meal. this is usually fine as i’m only dong that 1-2 days at a time and have always been 6ft1 and 66kg but 2 weeks of that plus being ‘middle aged’ and suddenly this thing appeared round my middle.
after eating whatever i liked and weighing the same since i was a teen this was quite shock, lost it reasonably quickly just by not overeating and avoiding the refined sugar/fatty stuff when on a catered shoot and having a very small lunch when working a t home (just a slice of toast or yoghurt and banana) now back to 29in waist and no spare tyre. i still stuff my face now and again just not for 2 solid weeks. 😳

I put on 20lb and then a bit more by eating and drinking too much !Having decided I need to lose weight by looking at a fat git in the mirror I just decided to eat less and cut out most of the booze.I did it a couple of years ago got down to 13st 4 from over 16 but put it all on again currently 15st 3 having started at 16st 9 .I actually find it easy to do its remembering not to pick between meals or drink 4 pints of cider every day !

I did a 6:1 variation of the diet for 8 weeks before my wedding.
…..
I continued commuting by bike throughout and did occasionally bonk on the way home.

Shouldn’t you have been saving yourself for your wedding night?

Badum tish!

Thought I should get some practice in for the lucky lad…